At the end of July we told you that Oliver Stone was about to extend an offer to Josh Brolin to play the hedge fund-manipulating villain in “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps”. And while we all took it as gospel that Brolin would want to reteam with his “W.” director for the sequel to Stone’s 1987 opus on greed, apparently it took a bit of time to actually cement the deal. This weekend, however, Stone finally confirmed that Brolin would appear in “Wall Street 2”. He also added another interesting angle to the film’s already well-appointed cast. All will be revealed after the jump.

On Sunday Oliver Stone confirmed to The New York Times [via The Playlist] that Josh Brolin will indeed be playing the villain in “Wall Street 2”. The villain here is represented by a big player in the financial markets whose risky plan to short stocks brings the US economy to the brink of collapse – sound familiar? The role was initially offered to Brolin’s “No Country for Old Men” co-star Javier Bardem who passed on the part. Murderers? No problem. Bernie Madoff types? That’s just too much evil for one career.

Along with the Brolin confirmation Stone also revealed that the original “Wall Street” protagonist, Bud Fox, will again appear in the sequel in a cameo role. Charlie Sheen will reprise his role as the once starry-eyed stock trader who is famously schooled by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) on the relative goodness of greed. No word on how Sheen’s cameo will advance the plot. If at all.

“Wall Street 2” will feature the now-reformed Gordon Gekko, fresh from the penitentiary and ready to school another eager young protégé on the ins and outs of financial dirty deeds. Shia LeBeouf plays the Bud Fox-ish young man with Frank Langella as his original mentor. Shooting begins on “Wall Street 2” this week in New York en route to an April 2010 release date. Gee, let’s hope this recession holds out until then!

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